The present invention generally relates to a refrigerator and, more particularly, to a trigger mechanism built in a door handle assembly for forcibly opening a door a predetermined distance against magnetic attraction used to keep the door shut.
A refrigerator commercially available in the market nowadays is provided with a plurality of doors, at least one of which is hingedly supported at one side thereof for swinging between opened and closed positions about a hinge. This hingedly supported door is generally provided with one or more storage shelves fixedly or removably fitted to an interior surface of the hingedly supported door for accommodating bottles, cans and/or canisters. In addition, each of the doors has a magnetic gasket fitted thereto so that when a respective door is in position to close an opening leading into an associated refrigerator compartment, a substantially gas-tight seal can be created between the respective door and a front edge of the refrigerator to avoid any possible leakage of chilled air from an interior of a refrigerator housing to an exterior thereof. As is well known to those skilled in the art, the magnetic gasket is of a design in which a permanent magnet is embedded to develop a magnetic force of attraction by which the respective door can be kept shut.
It has been experienced that in opening the hingedly supported door a relatively large amount of pulling force is necessary to overcome the magnetic force of attraction developed by the magnetic gasket between the door and the front edge of the refrigerator housing. This is particularly true where a substantial weight is imposed on the storage shelves by placement of filled bottles, cans and canisters. imposed on the storage shelves by placement of filled bottles, cans and canisters. Considering that the hingedly supported door is installed at a top region of the refrigerator, selective opening and closure of the door so loaded with the filled bottles, cans and canisters on the shelves is indeed a laborious job for a short user.
When it comes to a drawing door, the drawing door generally carries a storage container for accommodating perishables and/or any other food material therein. However, the deeper the storage container, the heavier the entire assembly thereof, and therefore a relatively large amount of pulling force is required to draw the drawing door from a closed position towards an open position.
In order to minimize a force required to open the drawing door, Japanese Laid-open Utility Model Publication No. 7-41377, published Jul. 21, 1995, discloses a door trigger mechanism comprising a generally elongated operating member movably concealed behind a door handle and having each of its opposite ends formed with a trigger arm. The trigger arms on the opposite ends of the operating member are engaged in one of creases in the magnetic gasket so that when the operating member is pulled forward during manipulation of the door handle, the trigger arms are moved forwardly in a direction away from a peripheral edge of the refrigerator housing to forcibly compress the magnetic gasket to thereby create gaps between the magnetic gasket and the peripheral edge of the refrigerator housing, thereby making it easy to open the drawing door.
The idea suggested in the above mentioned publication is applicable where the magnetic gasket is of a cross-sectional shape similar to a bellows having a plurality of creases extending over an entire periphery of the magnetic gasket so that the magnetic gasket can be inwardly compressed when the trigger arms are moved forwardly. However, since the trigger arms are engaged in one of the creases in the magnetic gasket in touch with the magnetic gasket, frequent use of the operating member would result in damage to the magnetic gasket. Once the magnetic gasket is damaged locally, a gas-tight seal will no longer be established between the peripheral edge of the refrigerator housing and the magnetic gasket.
On the other hand, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 61-79976, published Apr. 23, 1986, discloses a refrigerator door hingedly supported by a hinge axis to a refrigerator housing, and a handle movably fitted to a portion of the refrigerator door opposite to the hinge axis. The handle is movably carried by the door by virtue of an elongated operating bar connected at one end hingedly to the hinge axis of the door and at an opposite end to the handle. A trigger protuberance is fixedly mounted on a generally intermediate portion of the operating bar so as to protrude towards a peripheral edge of the refrigerator housing. This door trigger mechanism is so designed that when the handle is pushed, the trigger protuberance is brought into abutment with the peripheral edge of the refrigerator housing to forcibly separate a magnetic gasket, fast with the door, from the peripheral edge of the refrigerator housing.
However, according to the above mentioned patent publication, once the magnetic gasket, fast with the door, has been forcibly separated a distance from the peripheral edge of the refrigerator housing by the action of the trigger protuberance, a user has to pull the handle forward to open the refrigerator door. This means that the user has to perform two successive steps of pushing the handle to create a slight gap between the door and the refrigerator housing, and then grasping the handle to pull the latter to thereby open the door. This is indeed a complicated procedure.
A refrigerator door trigger mechanism employing a solenoid unit and an associated electric switch is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 1-222187, published Sep. 5, 1989, and Japanese Patent Publication No. 7-9341, first published Sep. 5, 1989 under Laid-open Patent Publication No. 1-222186. While use of an electrically operated trigger mechanism appears to be sophisticated, not only does the trigger mechanism require electricity accompanied by increase of electric power consumption of a refrigerator as a whole, but use of the electrically operated trigger mechanism tends to result in an increase of costs for manufacture of the refrigerator. In addition, this requires a complicated operating procedure of activating the switch to energize the solenoid unit, and then pulling a handle forward to open a door.
The present invention is intended to provide a door trigger mechanism built in a door handle assembly for forcibly opening a door a predetermined distance against magnetic force of attraction developed between a magnetic gasket, fast with the door, and a peripheral open edge of a refrigerator housing to keep the door shut.
To this end, one aspect of the present invention provides a refrigerator which comprises a thermally insulated housing opening forwardly at a front surface thereof; a door for selectively opening and closing the opening of the thermally insulated housing; a magnetic gasket positioned between the door and the thermally insulated housing and fitted to a portion of the door which is engageable with an open edge of the thermally insulated housing; a pivotally supported handle connected to the door for movement between opened and closed positions for opening and closing the door, respectively; and a trigger member drivingly coupled with the handle for movement between projected and retracted positions. With this structure, the trigger member is moved from the retracted position towards the projected position, as the handle is pivoted from the closed position towards the opened position, to abut the open edge to thereby physically release a contact between the magnetic gasket and the open edge. The trigger member is spaced a distance from an abutment face of the open edge of the thermally insulated housing so long as the handle is held in the closed position, but temporarily brought into engagement with the abutment face of the thermally insulated housing as the handle is pivoted from the closed position towards the opened position to open the door.
According to the present invention, a simple pull of the refrigerator door in an attempt to open the door is accompanied by movement of the trigger member from the retracted position towards the projected position, and subsequent opening of the refrigerator door. Accordingly, no extra complicated procedure is required such as observed in prior art trigger mechanisms.
Preferably, the trigger member is positioned within an area encompassed by a length of the handle to allow the trigger mechanism to be compactly assembled.
The concept of the present invention is equally applicable to one or more drawing doors employed in a refrigerator with or without a hingedly supported door.